THERMOCOUPLES NEWS

Heat Treat Supplier Receives Patent for Vacuum Furnace Control Thermocouple

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Solar Manufacturing has received a patent for an improved vacuum furnace control thermocouple design. The new thermocouple design offers an advantage when controlling at operating temperatures from ambient up to 1200°F (649°C) especially in smaller diameter hot zones of 36” (91.44 cm) or less.

William Jones CEO and Founder/Owner, Solar Atmospheres

The new thermocouple configuration was developed to lessen the undesirable thermal conduction losses of the thermocouple assembly. This thermocouple design has also demonstrated to improve temperature uniformity survey results. To satisfy AMS 2750 standard temperature uniformity specifications, it is critical to have the control thermocouples in the proper location of the hot zone for satisfactory survey thermocouple measurements without correction factors.

The patent inventor is William R. Jones, owner of Solar Manufacturing, Inc.

Under these conditions, the outer ceramic protection tube of the conventional control thermocouple design acts as a heat sink. This thermal conduction, or the heat loss, is compounded by the shorter length of the thermocouple assembly and causes the control thermocouple to operate at a lower temperature, thus increasing the power output to the furnace heating elements to maintain set-point temperature. The result is the workload temperature hotter than the furnace temperature. The phenomenon is more pronounced at lower processing temperatures (<1200°F/649°C).


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Heat Treat Tips: Atmospheres, Thermocouples, and Flow Power

Heat Treat Today’s 101 Heat Treat Tips provides an opportunity to learn the tips, tricks, and hacks shared by some of the industry’s foremost experts.

For Heat Treat Today’s latest round of 101 Heat Treat Tipsclick here for the digital edition of the 2019 Heat Treat Today fall issue (also featuring the popular 40 Under 40).

If you have a heat treat-related tip that would benefit your industry colleagues, you can submit your tip(s) to anastasia@heattreattoday.com  or editor@heattreattoday.com.

 

Today’s tips come to us from AFC-Holcroft, covering Thermocouples, Atmospheres, and Flow Power.

 

Heat Treat Tip #4

Pack Your Thermocouples

When a thermocouple is used with an open-ended protection tube, pack rope or fiber between the thermocouple and the protection tube to prevent cold air infiltration from influencing the reading.

 

 

Photo Credit: Super Systems, Inc. (SSi)


Heat Treat Tip #7

A Good Fit

If a thermocouple fits loosely in a protection tube, avoid errors by ensuring that the tip maintains good contact with the tube.

 

 

Photo Credit: Super Systems, Inc. (SSi)


Heat Treat Tip #25

Oxygen Analysis as a Cost Saver

Investing in and using an oxygen analyzer on a regular basis can provide significant fuel cost savings and, at the same time, optimize uniformity and maximize capacity.

 

Photo Credit: Super Systems, Inc. (SSi)


Heat Treat Tip #26

Flow Power

Pressure varies as the square of the flow. This means that to double the flow, with all else being constant, pressure must increase by a factor of 4. Also, power increases as the cube of the flow. Doubling the flow produced by a fan or blower requires an 8-fold increase in horsepower.


Heat Treat Tip #77

Puzzling Polarity?

If unsure of the polarity of a type K thermocouple, remember that the negative (red) leg is magnetic; the positive (yellow) is not.


Heat Treat Tip #94

Copper as a Leak Check

If maintaining dew point is a problem, and it’s suspected that either an air or water leak is causing the problem, run a piece of copper through the furnace. Air will discolor the copper; water will not.


Heat Treat Tip #97

Optimum Dew Point

It is much easier to produce low dew point gas in a generator (within reason) than it is to lower the dew point after the atmosphere is in the furnace using enriching gas.

 

 

 

Photo Credit: Super Systems, Inc. (SSi)

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Reader Feedback: Reusing Non-expendable Base Metal Thermocouples

Here is what readers are saying about recent posts on Heat Treat Today. Submit your comments to editor@heattreattoday.com.

Jason Schulze has written numerous articles for HTT about AMS2750E. Check them out by searching “Jason Schulze” at www.heattreattoday.com


Jason Schulze, Aerospace Heat Treating
Jason Schulze, Conrad Kacsik

READER QUESTION: As per AMS2750E, what is the number of reuses for nonexpendable base metal thermocouples (N type MIMS TCS) above 980°C? Our application is TUS and SAT from 700°C  to 1250°C. We would like to use N type MIMS thermocouples for both TUS and SAT. Recalibration period is specified as 3 months for N type thermocouples in AMS2750E. But no details are provided for the number of reuses above 650°C.

Jason Schulze (Conrad Kasik) for HTT: The number of permitted uses depends on the intended use of the thermocouple. For example, if the Type N thermocouples are used at 980°C (1796°F) as load thermocouple, the maximum permitted use would be 3 months or 180 uses, whichever comes first. If the thermocouple is used as a resident SAT thermocouple, it would need to be replaced every three months. In this case, the usage limit would be limited to 3 months. This will not be changing when the new version of AMS2750F is released.


We welcome your inquiries to and feedback on Heat Treat Today articles. Submit your questions/comments to editor@heattreattoday.com.

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Thermocouple Wire Manufacturing Line Changes Hands

 

Ted Bill, president, Pelican Wire

A Florida-based manufacturer of thermocouple, resistance, and custom wire recently acquired a portion of the insulated thermocouple manufacturing business from a  technology and manufacturing company that provides thermal products and systems to heat treating operations within the automotive, aerospace, defense, and medical industries worldwide.

Pelican Wire has completed the purchase of a portion of the SERV-RITE business from Watlow Electric, based in St. Louis, Missouri. The agreement includes equipment, design and manufacturing process information and customer account data.

“I’m excited to work with our long-time partner, Watlow Electric, to provide their customers continued superior service for these high-temperature thermocouple products,” said Ted Bill, president, Pelican Wire. “This is a great example of Pelican Wire’s ongoing commitment to the thermocouple wire industry.”

“This is a very natural transition for both companies. Watlow and Pelican Wire have a long history of cooperation to ensure customers can leverage the core capabilities of both to get the best solution,” said Randy Brown, Chief System Designer, Watlow.

Randy Brown, Chief System Designer, Watlow

As quoted from the August 31, 2018 “End of Life” (EOL) statement, “Watlow has already begun transferring both design and manufacturing knowledge of the product line to Pelican Wire. Pelican Wire already manufactures these constructions, so the transition is expected to be seamless.”

Pelican Wire will begin quoting and accepting orders on new and existing wire designs on September 17, 2018, and will begin manufacturing operations on or before October 15, 2018.

 

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3D TUS Software Released to Heat Treat Market

Photography by Quang Nguyen

Long-time heat treating expert, Peter Huskek of Phoenix Heat Treating, a fourth generation commercial heat treating institution, is branching out into the computer simulation arena with a very impressive, 3D temperature uniformity survey (TUS) reporting tool called Virtual Visual Surveys (www.virtualvisualsurveys.com). What Mr. Hushek and his team, including key developer Jeff Murch, have developed under the company name of Thermal Innovation Technologies, Inc., is a 3D visualization tool capable of showing furnace operators what their furnace uniformity looks like. This 3D visualization software helps quality personnel know if a furnace will pass a TUS, and if not why. It also allows maintenance personnel the opportunity to isolate and diagnose problem areas within the work area of the furnace. The 3D visualization package is offered as a service. For more information, visit www.virtualvisualsurveys.com.

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